Calendar

Upcoming Events, Shows & Performances:

It’s Like a Movie, Seen from Inside the Hero’s Mind

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It’s like a movie, seen from inside the hero’s mind. In this case, he’s Odysseus of Ithaca, a father and fighter, far from home. The Greek poet Homer’s great metaphor for how soldiers come home after war is what The Odyssey is all about.

Almost making it home, but then being swept away again by forces beyond your control. The lure of drugs to calm the mind. And being forced to fight an inhuman monster because you made a bad decision.

This coming Sunday, Jan. 16 at 7 pm EST, Master Talesman Odds Bodkin will appear on YouTube Live to tell this timeless story. He’ll accompany himself throughout on thunderous 12-string guitar.

Get your tickets today.

 

The Odyssey: Belly of the Beast

Jan. 16, 2022 at 7 pm EST, 4 pm PT.

An hour+ performance live on YouTube.

Tickets: $25-$30

 

Presented by Claire Hennessy and Six Feet Apart Productions.

 

NOW IN STOCK: Odds Bodkin Story Drives

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NOW IN STOCK: Odds Bodkin Story Drives. You can always download Odds Bodkin’s classic tales with original music from Odds’ Shop and get them instantly, or you can order a Story Drive to share with friends and family.

Click images for story details!

The Back-to-School Storytelling Motherlode

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The Back-to-School Storytelling Motherlode is Odds Bodkin’s MASTER DRIVE.

Buy it, plug it in, and share these mp3 albums with your young children, elementary and middle and high school students, and you, the adults. All 19 albums are age-coded. There’s even Odds Bodkin’s The Water Mage’s Daughter, a 550-page epic poem for literate readers.

These award-winning storytelling albums include live acoustic music, character voices and stunning vocal sound effects, some with virtuoso whistling here and there. It’s all real.

100% natural storytelling. Classics as well, like The Odyssey, Hercules, David and Goliath and Beowulf.

Grow your family’s imaginations and knowledge with the Back-to-School Motherlode–

Odds Bodkin’s MASTER DRIVE.

The Ultimate Back to School Storytelling Collection: Give Your Child the Imaginative Edge

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Got a kid in kindergarten? You’ll want this. Got an elementary age child? You’ll want this. Are you yourself someone who values high-quality adult storytelling? You’ll probably want this, too.

Odds Bodkin’s EPIC DRIVE, a collection of 19 full-length storytelling albums. The New York Times calls him “a consummate storyteller.”

The Evergreens: Gentle Tales of Nature for the youngest of listeners.

The Odyssey: An Epic Telling, a fabulous introduction to Homer’s world (when you order the drive, we’ll include a free autographed Odyssey Adventure Map of the Mediterranean Sea that tracks Odysseus’ journey): great for 5th graders on up.

 

The Little Proto Trilogy, three musical dinosaur tales the entire family will enjoy. Parents’ Choice award-winners.

And much more. Paul Bunyan tales. Funny Folktales. Fairy Tales. Beowulf. Hercules. On and on.

Just plug in the drive and drag the mp3 files onto your computer, then share them with your family. And you can share the drive with others, too.

An award-winning treasure trove of musical tales, filled with unforgettable characters.

THE EPIC DRIVE.

Give your child the imaginative edge.

 

11 Days Left in MASTER DRIVE Sale! Ends July 30th!

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11 days remain in Odds Bodkin’s MASTER DRIVE sale at the storyteller’s online shop.

Get $50 off the price of his MASTER DRIVE this July. This flash drive features his complete audio stories, his epic poem The Water Mage’s Daughter (550 pages pdf), a live performance video plus original musical compositions.

Just plug it in and distribute the stories to your family’s devices! All mp3 audios.

 

Regular price: $199.95. Now $149.95!

Perfect for Family Travel!

 

Age-Coded Stories Include:

The Adventures of Little Proto (audio)

Little Proto’s T-Rex Adventure (audio)

Little Proto and the Volcano’s Fire (audio)

The Teacup Fairy: Very Old Tales for Very Young Children (audio)

The Evergreens: Gentle Tales of Nature (audio)

With Twinkle in your Eye: Funny Folktales from Everywhere (audio)

Rip Roarin’ Paul Bunyan Tales (audio)

The Winter Cherries: Holiday Tales from Around the World (audio)

The Blossom Tree: Tales from the Far East (audio)

The Wise Little Girl: Tales of the Feminine (audio)

Earthstone: The Eco-Musical (2 hour audio)

The Odyssey: An Epic Telling (4 hour audio)

Giant’s Cauldron: Viking Myths of Adventure (audio)

Hidden Grail: Sir Percival and the Fisher King (90 minute audio)

Stories of Love (audio)

David and Goliath: The Harper and the King (audio)

The Myth of Hercules (audio)

 

Plus Rare Works:

Beowulf: The Only One (live audio recording)

The Iliad: Book I (50-minute video)

The Water Mage’s Daughter: a 13,000-line epic poem. (PDF e-book)

 

Plus Odds Bodkin’s Original Musical Compositions on Acoustic Instruments and Kurzweil synthesizer:

Rapunzel’s Window

At Beauty’s Door

Black Irish

Soft-Hearted Men in the Good Old USA

Little Paws

Christmas Morning

The Great Irish Elk

 

Order yours today!

Tale of the Kittens from SHE’S CLEVER, THAT ONE: Fairy Tales for Smart Girls with Odds Bodkin

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It’s not easy living with a lazy sister and an imperious mother.

Since Marie is the only daughter willing to do the work, and her sister won’t lift a finger, it’s Marie who ends up doing everything. Hanging out the laundry. Sweeping off the front porch. Weeding the garden. Washing the dishes.

But because Marie does these things, and because she’s courageous and curious, it’s she who discovers the world of kittens beneath the giant cauliflower on the hill.

It’s she who hears the catchy song.

And it’s she who is given the beautiful gifts.

Come listen, watch and enjoy The Tale of the Kittens, one of four fairy tales for smart girls that Odds Bodkin will perform this coming Sunday, March 7th at 5 pm EST on Zoom. These stories are appropriate for all ages. Music on 12-string guitars and Celtic harp. Plus lots of silly voices.

Tickets: $25 per screen

 

 

Tchaikovsky in the Pandemic

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I just finished listening to Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto #1 in my kitchen, while recovering from a day of hard physical work cleaning out my garage and carting off the last leaves of autumn here in New Hampshire. In my town of Bradford, if you don’t turn on your front porch light this Halloween, trick or treaters will not ring your doorbell. We’re doing that this year, Mil and I. We’re going to light the wood stoves and lay low. Just today I put on and took off my mask numerous times, a task almost as tiring as taking moldy old sleeping bags to the dump.

A young woman (violinist Alena Baeva) was the soloist for the concerto, and she was note perfect and found yet a few new subtleties in performing this beloved and well-worn piece.

Of course, this was a pre-Covid performance. It was a scene of happy aesthetes assembled together in a concert hall somewhere, put up on YouTube. No masks. Everyone breathing the collective air normally. A roaring applause at the end, everyone standing up in joy, just having been transported.

All this will come back. It really will. We just have to hang in there a little while longer.

That’s because our beloved scientists have almost figured out the bioinformatics on this virus. Just as breathlessly as I listened to this concerto, I await that day. It’s just around the corner.

—Odds Bodkin

9 Full-Length Storytelling Albums for Kids 4-7 on a Single Flash Drive!

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Order your Beginner Drive today!

What’s on it? 9 Full-Length Storytelling Albums!

 

The Adventures of Little Proto: A Musical Dinosaur Story

Little Proto’s T-Rex Adventure: A Musical Dinosaur Story

Little Proto and the Volcano’s Fire: A Musical Dinosaur Story

The Teacup Fairy: Very Old Tales for Very Young Children

The Evergreens: Gentle Tales of Nature

With Twinkle in your Eye: Funny Folktales from Everywhere

Rip Roarin’ Paul Bunyan Tales

The Winter Cherries: Holiday Tales from Around the World

The Blossom Tree: Tales from the Far East

 

BACK TO SCHOOL AT HOME? BUY YOUR FAMILY AN EPIC DRIVE

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Literature. Music. Performing Arts. English Language Learning.

They all can be found listening to Odds Bodkin’s award-winning

stories.

“I’m so thrilled to have found your website and eagerly await reconnecting with your peerless storytelling.

Some thirty years ago I lived in New Hampshire, where my two young sons and I frequently caught your act. Cassette recordings also entertained us on our twice annual car treks to visit family in Ohio.

Now the boys are grown and living on opposite coasts while their parents have settled in Kentucky. Anticipating grandchildren and, thanks to the pandemic, more long drives to visit family, I went in search of an old favorite road companion. It feels like going home.

Thanks for all you do.”

–A Recent Customer

If your children or grandchildren are heading back to school by staying at home this fall, get yourself an EPIC DRIVE with 18 full-length storytelling albums. From gentle nature stories to mythic adventures, they’re all told with characters, sounds and live acoustic music.

Click to read about the national media awards.

Find Odds Bodkin’s stories on Amazon Alexa.

Being an Ugly Ogre for the Sake of Love

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I came across this photo of me from a recent Facebook Live show and had to laugh. “Man, I can be ugly when I want to be,” I thought. “What story was this?”

Somebody out there captured a screen shot and posted it.

Just this morning I took another look at it. Ah ha, I realized, it’s the ogre from The Little Shepherd! The one who sings badly and who, near the story’s end, picks up Lovely Bargaglina and drops her into the well. You can’t see her in this photo, because she’s imaginary. Still, there she is, helpless in the ogre’s grip.

I’d never seen myself do this onscreen. Talk about ugly. Still, it’s all done to becharm little children for the sake of love. So why not?